[Dion]

Striking workers from Safeway's Edmonton distribution centre, ice cream plant and frozen food warehouse voted Saturday afternoon to end their job action and accept a contract they rejected days earlier.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 president Doug O'Halloran said union members voted 71 per cent in favour of returning to work at the warehouse and 63 per cent in favour of returning to work at the Lucerne ice cream facility.

That additional three hours of work per week--which company officials said is now the standard in their industry -- had been a contentious issue for many union members.

"When you lift 25,000 to 35,000 pounds a day, that's a lot of work," O'Halloran said. "You have to pick somewhere in the neighbourhood of 240 pieces to 400 pieces an hour."

O'Halloran said he believed workers initially rejected union leader-ship's advice to accept the deal out of frustration.

"I think they wanted to prove a point," O'Halloran said. "The issue was never money. The issue was over working the extra three hours."

O'Halloran said he was worried that, if the strike went on for a long time, the company might just shut down the Edmonton facilities and relocate.

"If you have a big impact and there's no where to go back to work, what have you proven?" he said.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/...893/story.html

"The workers today at 5:15 p.m. voted to go back to work," says O'Halloran. "I think it was a good decision, they were out for a week and I think they sent a strong message to the company. And I'm happy that we've been able to resolve this thing without too many problems and they'll be going back into work Sunday evening."

O'Halloran says the strike was not about money, rather the way the workers were being treated.

http://www.inews880.com/Channels/Reg...spx?ID=1139357